Kindle now $259, available worldwide with wireless delivery

The Kindle 2 keeps having its price tag slashed this year, and Amazon has done …

Amazon has decided to get aggressive with its marketing of the Kindle by dropping the price of the Kindle 2 for the second time in just a few months. The smaller of the company's two e-book readers now retails for just $259, down from $299 in July and $359 before that, and is available now. (The larger Kindle DX remains at $489.)

In addition to the price drop, Amazon also announced that it's finally taking the Kindle international with the addition of wireless capabilities in more than 100 countries. The international version is $279 and will be available in a couple weeks. Previous to this announcement, users could only browse the Kindle store and make purchases wirelessly within the US—the Kindle was restricted to reading only while outside of US borders. This restriction was an annoyance to frequent international travelers (and undoubtedly those who live outside the US but were dying to try a Kindle).

One interesting side note to the international announcement is that Amazon has partnered with AT&T to offer the global wireless coverage. AT&T certainly has more international partners than the Kindle's usual network (Sprint), but it makes us wonder why Amazon doesn't use AT&T in the US too. (Update: AT&T spokesperson Seth Bloom told Ars that the the international version of the Kindle does use AT&T in the US. This means there's both a GSM and EVDO version of the Kindle floating around.)

The decision to slash the Kindle's price tag and make it more worldly comes just in time for the holiday shopping season (and Amazon knows it by pointing out that the "Kindle is the most wished for [and] the most gifted" in its press release), but also due to mounting competition. Sony recently updated its e-book offerings, which now retail for $199 and $299. By price comparison alone, Amazon was lagging behind and undoubtedly wanted to ensure that the Kindle wasn't completely out of reach. After all, despite some of its recent DRM foibles, the Kindle is still the crowd favorite—for now.